23rd October 2026 - 3 min read
If you’re 55 or 60, you can take your EPF savings as a monthly payment of RM100 or more instead of a lump sum. EPF calls this option i-Emas, the name it gave the Age 55/60 Monthly Withdrawal in April. More than 21,000 members had chosen it by May, and EPF chief executive officer Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn mentioned it in his reaction to Budget 2027.
For example, RM100,000 paid out at RM1,000 a month lasts 10 years 10 months by our calculation, if the balance earns 5% a year.
The table below uses 5% a year as an example dividend rate, not a forecast, and 0% for comparison. By law, conventional savings earn at least 2.5% a year, so your money lasts longer than the 0% column shows. Shariah savings have no legal minimum. We added the dividend to the balance month by month and ignored inflation.
| Savings At 55 | At 0% a year | At 5% a year |
| RM100,000 | 8 years 4 months | 10 years 10 months |
| RM200,000 | 16 years 8 months | 35 years 11 months |
| RM270,000 | 22 years 6 months | Does not run out |
RM270,000 is EPF’s Basic Savings level if you turn 60 in 2026. At 5%, it earns RM1,125 a month, which is more than the RM1,000 payout, so the balance doesn’t run out.
On average, a 60-year-old man can expect to live about 19 more years, and a woman about 22, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) says. If you live as long as the average 60-year-old, the RM100,000 example runs out with 8 to 11 years still to go. To draw RM1,000 a month for 20 years, we worked out you need about RM151,500 if it earns 5% a year. If conventional savings earn only the 2.5% minimum, you need about RM188,700.
Ahmad Zulqarnain said on 9 October that whatever you leave in EPF keeps earning annual dividends. EPF declared a 6.15% dividend for 2025 on both conventional and Shariah savings. The rate changes each year. The 6.15% is about double the 3% a year that the best standard 12-month fixed deposits pay.
EPF pays i-Emas on the 25th of each month, or the next business day. You sign up for at least 12 months, and payments can run until you’re 100. EPF’s website doesn’t say whether you can change or stop payments once they start, so ask before you apply.
At 55, EPF combines your Akaun Persaraan, Akaun Sejahtera, and Akaun Fleksibel savings into Akaun 55. After 55, new contributions go into Akaun Emas, which you can only withdraw at 60. You can also take a partial withdrawal and receive the rest through i-Emas.
Apply through the i-Akaun app on the App Store or Google Play, the i-Akaun web portal, a self-service terminal, or an EPF office. If you’re a public sector employee on the government pension scheme, the government’s share of your savings must first go back to KWAP, the Retirement Fund (Incorporated). You can apply for the withdrawal and for Pre-PEN, EPF’s early government share calculation, at the same time.
EPF’s Belanjawanku guide puts a single elderly person’s living costs in the Klang Valley at RM2,690 a month, so RM1,000 covers less than half. A fixed RM1,000 a month also buys less each year as prices rise. Before you choose an amount, use the retirement goal calculator in the KWSP i-Akaun app to estimate how much you may need.
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Iman writes about personal finance with curiosity. She is interested in the stories behind money, the hesitation around big decisions, and the small habits that shape financial futures. Off the clock, she is either dissecting a film or climbing her way up the leaderboard in her favourite games.
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